ITPEC IP April 2021 Question 44

Matrix authentication — the user enters the characters found at secret, remembered positions of a table shown on the screen.

The table is filled with different random characters at each login, while the user remembers only a pattern of positions. The string typed therefore changes every time, so a password seen over the shoulder or captured by a keylogger cannot simply be replayed.

Answer (c)

Why not others:

• •(a) — a password that can be used only once is a one-time password; the option gives it the name of single sign-on
• •(b) — being authenticated once and then allowed to use several servers or applications is single sign-on; the option calls it a one-time password, so (a) and (b) swap the two names
• •(d) — authentication by fingerprints, voiceprints or other physical characteristics is biometric authentication; challenge-response means the server sends a random challenge and the client returns a value computed from it and a secret, so the password itself never crosses the network

Key rule: Match each scheme to what the user proves: a secret pattern (matrix), a code valid once (one-time password), one login for many systems (single sign-on), a body feature (biometrics), a computed reply to a random challenge (challenge-response).

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